


Photograph

by the_empty_pen



Series: PHWEEK2020 [5]
Category: Pandora Hearts
Genre: Gen, insight on the character's thoughts in that chapter, set in the unbirthday chapter, sort of fluffy i guess??, they are making a photo, well it's not too angsty for pandora hearts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23699593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_empty_pen/pseuds/the_empty_pen
Summary: Everyone gathers up for the photo, they take their positions and try to put on a smile, but the man behind the camera presses the release button just a little before that.
Relationships: can't really tag relationships here
Series: PHWEEK2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700932
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Photograph

**Author's Note:**

> today it's not. too tragic either. honestly, day 6 and 7 are fine too.  
> Heck, did I cry while writing this one here and day 7, thouhg.  
> Writing pandora hearts characters being happy hits so much deeper than writing them suffering tbh. they deserve it so mcuh. *sniffles* ok this is fine have fun with this

**Winds are high, up on the hill. I cannot hear you.**

It starts with an uncle’s wish for everyone to finally take a break from their troubles, to allow a spark of happiness to ignite their hearts, even if just for a few moments. The tea party goes on and on, until he takes out the camera with which he wanted to take a photo of his wife and child.  
He never got the chance.  
But the family he has now, those two boys that are almost like his own sons – they’re good enough.  
More than that.  
Everyone gathers up for the photo, they take their positions and try to put on a smile, but the man behind the camera presses the release button just a little before that.

But that doesn’t matter.  
The photo still describes them almost perfectly. 

Alice wants to tell the man behind the camera that he’d better make this worth it. She could have eaten more of the delicious cake in the meantime, so she raises her finger and points at him, opening her mouth to say something, right when the photo is taken.   
Maybe it’s not too bad to have a photo as a memory, a picture where she’s with all of her friends. Friends do matter after all. And she doesn’t ever want to lose them.

Gilbert sees what she’s doing. He just wants to keep the stupid rabbit from screaming at the poor man behind the camera who’s not even a professional, just some Pandora worker who could’ve spent his time doing something better.  
He reaches out to her, putting his other hand onto Oz’ shoulder to keep his balance and maybe, just maybe to be close to him in the photograph. He’ll forever be his servant. No matter if he has to wait for him again at some point.

Sharon, meanwhile, just thinks that what Alice is doing is cute. She adores her and her innocence and how quickly she’s adapting to the world how they know it. How fast she’s starting to get along with everyone despite the hardships they’re all facing. She folds her hands, not in prayer, but in a gesture to show everyone how much she cherishes each and everyone. She doesn’t plan for this to be in the photo, but later, whenever she looks at it, she doesn’t regret it either.

Break watches them or well, pretends to do so. He can barely see anything, his sight so blurry that all he can really make out is a swirl of green and brown and blue, then many colours right in front of him and right beside him. And those are the people he’s come to love after all, something he’s never planned on doing. It’s more beautiful that way.  
They’re so many; he doesn’t need to see faces or clothes when he can see all different colours of the rainbow blur together into something that seems like a picture.  
He puts his one hand to his sword, the other to his face.  
It doesn’t matter how he looks. He won’t be able to see the photograph, anyways.

Reim feels calm for once, but then again, this is a disaster. He sees the man’s finger creep closer to the release button of the camera and comes to the conclusion that this photo will not be aesthetically pleasing, but at least portraying al their personalities well. And that’s what counts after all, isn’t it? Still, he can’t keep himself from furrowing his eyebrows, but at least he stops his hands from reaching for his glasses.

Oscar looks at his niece, putting his hand to her back. He can’t reach his nephew, but that’s ok, because he’s surrounded by friends. He feels the sunlight on his clothes, the warmth slowly seeping through them; then again, it might just be the happiness that’s inside of him. He’s managed. They’re happy. All of them are incredibly happen, even if just for a moment. He winks at Ada to tell her that thought in a simple motion.

Ada understands and clasps her hands together, smiling up at her uncle. This is perfect. Her brother is back despite everything, her uncle is happy, she’s seeing someone who may not be here right now, but he’s on her mind, and that’s enough. A breeze flows through her hair just as Leo’s shoulder bumps into her back slightly. It doesn’t hurt.  
It just tells her that everyone, really everyone is with her.

Echo is looking to the floor because that’s what she’s used to. She’s never even thought about being in a photograph, so the whole thing is just really uncomfortable. Another thing that’s unusual to her is that her cheek is just a little warmer than usual, that there’s something inside of her chest that feels as if she’s almost going to fly, that she’s going to leave the ground.  
Laughter is surrounding her like a cloud.  
It’s warm and cozy and she lets herself fall into it.

Leo – in short – is extremely annoyed by Elliot. He didn’t want to be in the picture; or well, that was what he had said three minutes ago, at least. Now, however, Leo is pulling him into the picture, bumping into Ada in the process.  
Everything that’s happened in the past doesn’t matter now, not even for a moment. The voices in his head are calm. Elliot’s arm in his hand is warm, he’s alive, he’s with him to experience this beautiful afternoon full of golden light.  
The golden lights in his eyes are dancing just as much as his heart is.

Elliot is being pulled into the picture and is equally as pissed. He hasn’t asked for this. He can’t possibly be seen with three Vessalius – then again, his family will never learn of it.  
And Leo is there with him, so everything’s perfect. And as much as he hates it, he has to admit that he’s happy. He doesn’t dislike Oz and he surely doesn’t dislike Leo, either. So having a memory with both of them is something that he might consider precious in some years.  
A tiny voice in his head noted that he wouldn’t get to live much more, but he forgot it right away.

Oz is in the midst of it all – the only one who’s smiling at the camera and looking decent, surrounded by all the people he loves.  
For the first time in his life, he’s almost certain of one thing. He’s happy.  
For this moment, he’s happy.  
Oddly enough, Break’s question comes back to him. Those three words, forming a phrase of asking where he is, something he didn’t understand the first time he was asked.  
And he doesn’t – not quite yet. But maybe he will, soon, since it’s slowly starting to make sense.  
He feels Gilbert’s hand on his shoulder and his uncle behind them, Echo sitting at his feet, his sister close to him and Alice right in front of him. His new friends, Elliot and Leo, are a bit farther from him, but just as close, almost.  
Even Sharon, Break and Reim are there with him.  
Oz knows that this is the last happy moment he will spend with him. He doesn’t get why, but something inside of him instinctively knows that this is the case, so he takes in a breath of the warm air, it smells like flowers and sun and happiness.  
It’s ok.  
Everything is ok, even if just for a moment.  
And even if it’s just a fraction of a second, it’s caught in a photograph that he will look at again in a hundred years, yellow and brown of age and barely recognizable anymore.  
Tears will come to his eyes as he remembers every single one of his old friends, as he’s hugged by the two people who’ve become family for him. 

It ends with an uncle staring at the photo lovingly, a smile on his lips, then he notices that there are two persons missing.  
His brother. That’s normal.  
But Vincent Nightray isn’t on it either, and even though he’s not really his favourite person in the world, it feels like they’re not totally complete.  
Maybe he’ll get to be on another photo.  
Maybe it’s better that he isn’t in this one.  
Oscar puts the photo onto his nightstand, carefully, then turns off the light.


End file.
